4
February:On Friday, 4 February,
delegates met in a Plenary session to consider the Co-Chairs' draft
proposal for an international arrangement on forests (Category III).
Working Group 1 continued to negotiate bracketed text on TFRK, Working
Group 2 convened briefly to hear updates on contact groups' progress,
and the contact group on EST met. The contact group on finance met
on SaturdayThe Friday afternoon Plenary was held in Conference
Room 2. Previously, the IFF-4 Plenary sessions had all been held
in the Trusteeship Council chambers >>

Afternoon Plenary: Co-chair's
Draft Text on Category III

Co-Chair Ristimäki (left) introduced the
Co-Chairs' text on an international arrangement on forests, emphasizing
it is intended to facilitate negotiations. The text proposes the
establishment of: a UN Forest Council (UNFC), under the aegis of
the CSD or the GA, to meet biannually to build consensus, monitor
progress, and coordinate and develop policy; a UN Partnership on
Forests (UNPF) comprised of international and regional organizations
and financial institutions that address forests; a steering committee,
with a structure similar to the ITFF; and a small secretariat.

The EU questioned how the UNFC could strengthen commitment to
SFM and stressed the need for developing a participatory approach.
The EU reiterated its preference for negotiating an LBI and lamented
the omission of an international agreement from the proposed work
programme for the UNFC.

The G-77/CHINA said that the draft text focuses on coordination
and policy development functions in isolation of financial resources
and deemed the proposal to reallocate funds from the UN budget and
from existing organizations inadequate. He stressed the need for
financial resources either through the establishment of a global
forest fund or strengthening of the GEF.

CANADA proposed a two- track approach: a transitional phase
during which the proposed UNFC would concentrate on implementing
the IPF/IFF proposals for action; and the establishment of an international
negotiating committee (INC) to develop a convention to cover all
functions and elements identified by the IFF.

BRAZIL supported giving coordination, implementation and policy
development equal importance; better addressing monitoring of
progress; and seeking stronger political commitment toward SFM.
He noted that there is not enough consensus or knowledge to launch
a negotiating process for a LBI.

Miguel Lovera Rivas (left) of FRIENDS
OF THE EARTH-Paraguay chaired an NGO side event on planting problems,
organized by the World Rainforest Movement (WRM) and Friends of
the Earth International.

Ricardo Carrere (above center) from
the WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT-Uruguay (http://www.wrm.org.uy)
discussed the environmental and social
impacts of large-scale tree plantations. He said plantations cannot
replace the biodiversity and multiple functions of forests, therefore
they are not attractive to fauna and local communities and do not
improve the environment. He demonstrated negative impacts of plantations,
including soil exhaustion due to monoculture. He said plantations
exacerbate deforestation because local communities in search of
food and plants migrate and clear new forests. In
this RealAudio segment,
Larry Lohmann (top photo, on the left) from WRF-UK raises new issues
in mitigating climate change and describes two categories on conflicts
which arise from the use of
plantations as carbon sinks.

In other presentations, Hernan Verscheure
(second photo, on the right), Friends of the Earth-Chile spoke of
the impacts of plantations on poor communities in Chile, as outlined
in a recently published case study. Simone Lovera (left) from Friends
of the Earth-Paraguay discussed consumption patterns, incentives
and subsidies as they relate to plantations. Marcus Colchester (not
shown) from the Forest Peoples Program-UK talked about indigenous
peoples' rights and deforestation.

Side event: National presentations
- Turkey and Australia

Yavuz
Yüksel (right), representing Turkey, overviewed projects for the
profitable rehabilitation of degraded forest areas in Turkey using
grafting techniques. He highlighted tangible ecological and economic
benefits from such projects, including manifold returns on investment.

Below,
from left ot right: Gary Dolman (Australia), Don Wijewardana
(New Zealand), and John Lowe (South Pacific Forum) presented results
from a South Pacific Sub-Regional Workshop on issues related to
the IFF. The countries from the region recommend the establishment
of a permanent forum for policy implementation and coordination,
and strengthening existing binding and non-binding instruments.

In the corridors:
Some delegates speculate that some developed countries are hoping
to stretch out discussions on financial resources until they have
a clear picture whether or not there will be a legally binding instrument
on forests. There is further speculation that the developed countries
in question do not wish to reveal to their developing country colleagues
that they have little additional funds to offer, fearing that this
may change attitudes toward a LBI.<< The ENB's Ian Fry having a word with Adam
Delaney, delegate of Papua New Guinea, after the close of the afternoon
Plenary.